Not Quite A Picket Fence
by Protected by a Silver Spoon
Summary: Post Season 4 finale. The group has escaped Terminus and Daryl is still trying to find Beth. Things aren't all puppies and flowers, but Daryl never expected them to be. Please review! I would love some constructive criticism.
1. Chapter 1

The days had started running together for Daryl from the morning he collapsed in the crossroads. Before that, each minute he had spent with her was crystal clear in his memory. Every time he drifted into a fitful sleep he could see her face, he could hear her saying she wouldn't leave him and every time he was jerked awake with the realization that she did.

The days he spent with Joe's gang reminded him of where he had been with Merle, Before. He could feel himself easily slipping back into that role he had assumed for most of his life. He didn't have to think, just followed the lead of someone who was probably more twisted and scarred up than he was, but Daryl remembered those nine days in the woods by himself. He remembered that first feeling of emptiness grabbing his insides when he saw the house charred up and smoldering along with whatever was left of his mother. He remembered grabbing onto his asshole of a brother because even though he had left Daryl once, it was better than being alone. A night Daryl remembered belonging somewhere for the first time in his life. He remembered being looked up to, cared about, respected. Things he never thought he deserved, things that he only got after the world had gone to shit. Then, he would think of her. Her blond hair, her smile. Her telling him that he was afraid, he knew that she was right. He was terrified. He knew she was right. He missed her so bad now that she was gone. And now, after burning down that shiner's shack in the woods, after letting her know she fed that little flicker of hope he had been trying to put out his entire life, being with this new group felt like breaking a promise, he found himself searching for a way to leave them. He would rather be alone than break a promise he made to her.

One minute he had found his opportunity to leave and the next he was being beaten to death while Rick, Carl, and Michonne were going to be executed in front of him. Then he was stomping someone's face into the cracked pavement. A minute later he was Rick's brother. Another tick of the clock and they were all in a train car pantry. One more and they were running away from a barbecue. He still wasn't really sure how much time had passed, but they had some food, a couple of beat up cars that were still running, and they had each other- at least that was what everyone kept saying. All he had were memories. Another minute ticked by.

They had made a small camp not far from the road, it was easy to get to the cars, but far enough away to be hidden. Two or three people would take a car out at a time, looking for supplies and a new place to call home for a little while. Daryl never went on a run. He had made a grid in his head of the woods around them and everyday he would leave and he would search. If she was anywhere nearby he wasn't going to leave her.

It had been a few days, a week maybe, when he noticed the worried glances he was getting from Rick. From Maggie and Carol too. When Michonne started asking him how he was sleeping he knew it was getting bad. That night Daryl forced himself to lay out on a bed roll instead of barely closing his eyes up against a tree. By the time Rick took over watch he had fallen into a fitful sleep. It wasn't the kind of sleep that came from comfort and daily tiredness. It was the kind of sleep where you would rather do anything than close your eyes. But after everything, hopelessly tracking that car, sleeping with one eye open around Joe's gang, getting nearly beaten to death and constantly moving, the dreams that were keeping his bloodshot eyes pinned open left the front of his mind.

Maggie had taken to waking earlier than the sun, she found it particularly easy after Rick had told her about Daryl and Beth. She would watch as Daryl shoved a few things in a backpack, readied his crossbow and rubbed the mason jar lid that he had taken to carrying with him. This morning was different though. The air had changed, gotten colder, and Daryl was still sleeping. Maggie moved closer to him when she saw him tossing his head back and forth. She kept watching as he tossed and turned, mumbling the same things over and over. She was nearly standing over him when she could finally make it out. "Beth! Run, Beth!" He made a noise that was a pitiful mix of whine and whimper, "No, I'm sorry, Beth. Beth."

She woke him with a swift kick to his boots, "What in the hell does that mean, Daryl?! 'Beth! Beth! I'm sorry!'"

He woke with a gasp and skittered back against a tree. He shielded his face with his arm.

"What." She kicked his boots. "Happened." Another kick. "To." Another. "My." She switched feet. "Sister?!" Glenn came and pulled her back a few feet. Rick stood behind him and Daryl could feel the pressure of the groups' eyes on him. He felt every set of them telling him how worthless he was, how they had tried to trust him and how badly he had failed. He didn't need them to tell him that, he felt it with everything he had left in him.


	2. Chapter 2

"S'my fault. I wasn't paying enough attention. I lost her." Daryl ended after recounting how he and Beth had escaped the ruins of the prison. "Ain't never had someone look at me like that, and I lost her." His voice was low and rough, he pulled his bottom lip into his mouth and chewed on it a bit before going on. "I ain't gonna just forget her." He shook his head and brushed some dirt off his boot. "I shoulda found Sofia, an there ain't no way I'm letting the same thing happen to Beth." His voice dropped impossibly lower, "I ain't losing her."

Rick watched the scene unfolding. Daryl sitting against that tree, his bloodshot eyes downcast, biting his thumbnail. He looked every bit the cornered animal. Maggie was crouched in front of him, tears in her eyes with Glenn and the others close by. Rick hadn't had time to notice how badly beaten down Daryl was. He had never seen him so affected by the things that had happened to them, he had never seen the raw underbelly of just how vulnerable Daryl was, how the notion of being alone had left him so frayed.

Daryl grunted and coughed as he pushed himself up off the ground. By the time he had slung his crossbow over his shoulder and adjusted the strap on his still bruised ribs, he had pushed everything away. He covered up with whatever walls he could summon. As he left the camp to go back to the snaking trail he left Daryl promised himself they wouldn't wake up before him again.

"Wastin' my goddamned daylight." Maggie heard him grumble under his breath as he pushed past her.

The day had gone the same as all the others, no random tire tracks, the only footprints he came across were ones he had left to remind himself where he had already been, and those from two wandering walkers. On his way back to camp he had spotted a buck and after some quick figuring he knew he had a few hours of light left to follow it. He knew it would be a decent size when he saw some bark scraped off a tree from it's antlers. When the deer had crossed a small dirt road Daryl didn't have any trouble picking the trail right back up. It moved through the woods parallel to the road for a good twenty minutes until Daryl saw red in front of him. Taillights. He froze for a second squinting his eyes. A cross painted on the rear windshield. He ran.

Daryl felt his heart pounding in his chest as he followed the car up the road from the cover of the tree line. His ears were ringing with the sound of blood rushing through his body, his hands on his crossbow had never felt so steady. He had never felt more sure of anything he had done in his life than when he put a bolt through the eye of the man right as he opened the car door. The minutes were no longer ticking by, every breath, every beat of his heart seemed to take an eternity until he swung the door to the run down cabin open. It was one dirty open room, not unlike the shack he and Beth had burnt down.

"Took you long enough, since when it take so long to get some wa…" Daryl's hands were around the man's neck before he could finish.

"Beth!" Daryl was screaming. His voice was high pitched, panicky. "Beth!" The man was grabbing at him and landed a punch to his jaw. Daryl felt something slip and the next thing he knew…

"D…Daryl? Daryl!" It was more of a sob that he heard than anything else.

The man wasn't fighting him anymore. Daryl went to smash his head against the floor but it only made an unsatisfying squish where the back of his skull used to be. He forced himself to take a breath before he turned around, he was absolutely terrified of what he might see.

A half sob made it's way out of his mouth when he turned around. It was her. She was alive.

Huddled in the corner, ankles and wrists bound to the old sink plumbing, was Beth. He pulled his shirt and vest off as he approached. She didn't have anything covering her and she was shaking like a leaf. She was in shock. He had to get her warm. He used his knife to free her from the ropes and helped guide her arms into his flannel. "Daryl… I knew… knew you would…" He pulled her body against his and buried his face in her greasy hair. A few seconds was all he let himself have, they needed to get back to the camp.

He stood and bent back down to pick her up. She was so much lighter than he remembered. "It was just the two, there ain't no more?" He couldn't believe how unsteady his voice was.

Beth let her head fall against his bare chest. "Just two."

He grunted as he rearranged her in his arms. "Took care of 'em."

"I know."

Daryl sat her next to the car while he yanked his arrow out of the mans eye socket. He grabbed two water bottles from the back seat and went to sit beside Beth. His fingers fumbled a bit as he did up the buttons on the shirt and pulled his vest around her. He held the water to her mouth, he knew from the way she was acting and the glazed over look in her eyes that they had kept her drugged. Rage kept coursing through him in tidal waves. He wanted to go back in there and destroy everything that was left of anyone who had anything to do with this.

"Daryl…" Her voice snapped him back to the present. "I knew you would come."

He didn't trust his voice, it kept betraying him by breaking. "Mmhmm." He pushed her hair away from her face and held the water back to her lips. She took another sip.

"Gotta get back to camp." He awkwardly gathered her up against himself and stood. They would lose the light just as they got to camp, by what he could tell.

One of her arms wrapped around his neck as they started off. He figured it would be okay to stay on that dirt road for awhile, the only tire tracks were from that car. Beth laid her head against his shoulder and listened to his heart hammering inside his chest. "It's okay now." She found herself mumbling, unsure of wether it was to reassure herself or him.

He had been walking for about a half hour when he felt his body tiring. It was taking longer than he thought and the light was slipping away through the trees. Beth heard him grunt as he shifted her weight in his arms. Her fingers worked their way into the hair at the back of his neck and her other hand rubbed absentmindedly across the scars on his chest. He kept going.

The light had left them just as he came over the small hill behind camp. He saw the small flickering fire and could make out shadows beside it. Daryl felt a deep shaking sigh work its way through his chest, Beth shifted a bit in his arms. He made more noise than usual, his gait was uneven, footsteps heavy. It didn't take long to draw attention.

"Daryl? That you?" Glenn's voice called out.

"Yeah," He kept walking as Glenn approached, "Need a car, gotta get her to that cabin." Glenn stopped in his tracks at the sight before him. Daryl was shirtless, hands covered in blood. His chest was heaving with effort of carrying the small blond girl in his arms, the small blond girl that everyone else believed to be dead.

"Is she… alive?"

"Sleepin'."

"Maggie! Maggie!" Glenn turned and called out just as Maggie climbed out of the makeshift tent. Everyone else stood around the fire. "He… he… Daryl he found…" Glenn grabbed Maggie as she got close.

"Beth!"

Daryl refused to let anyone take her from him as they readied a car. He could feel the groups' eyes on him, everyone was asking him questions that he just nodded or grunted to in response. Rick led him to the van and climbed into the drivers seat. Maggie had been hovering over him, and she sat right next to him in the back. Carol sat with Rick up front while Michonne, Carl, and Glenn followed in the next car. He knew the others would follow as soon as camp was packed up. Beth stirred against him and Daryl let his eyes fall closed as he stroked her hair and listened to her mumbled words.


	3. Chapter 3

The gap between the doorway where Daryl stood and the bed where the only thing he could bring himself to care about was laying could've been the Grand Canyon. He had been standing there from the time he settled her in the bed, and that was hours ago. Putting her down and letting everyone fuss over her had taken so much out of him but he had promised himself, and her, that he wouldn't leave her again. The idea of looking anywhere else never crossed his mind. Glenn had come with a wet towel and cleaned Daryl's hands the best he could standing awkwardly in the door as Carol and Maggie did what they could for Beth. Rick had boiled water so they could clean her up. Daryl got sick in the corner when Carol whispered what she figured had happened. He was surprised that there had been anything in his stomach to come out.

People came in and out of the room but Daryl just slid down against the wall when his knees gave out. He watched Maggie sitting next to the bed, Glenn coming in to give them all water, Carol coming and checking her pulse and breathing, waiting for the drugs to work their way out of her. He felt himself drift in and out, not really awake or asleep. It could have been weeks that passed for all he knew, but he heard Rick saying she had only been out a day. His eyes snapped open at some point, he heard her talking and he pushed himself to stand.

Maggie looked over at the door again. This time Beth caught her.

"He's still there. Daryl?"

Her voice was soft, more worn out than he remembered.

Maggie watched him look down at his feet. "Yeah, he's still there."

"Give us some time? Go see Glenn?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I can handle an old redneck."

Maggie squeezed her sister's hand and kissed her cheek. As she moved past Daryl in the doorway she reached back to grab his arm and only held tighter when he flinched at the contact. "This ain't easy stuff Daryl. But if you hadn't kept looking she would still be there, with him. You keep that up front. That is what you did."

Maggie left them alone in the room and even though he had spent so much time alone with her, he was shaking. He could hardly lift his eyes to meet her. He had been the one to find her, to barge in the second he recognized the make of the car even though he knew full well everyone else was back at the camp. He had been the one to take his fists to that bastards face until they came back covered in blood and what he figured were brains. The only reason he stopped was that he heard her voice behind him. Daryl went to her, he made himself look at her, at everything that had happened to her because of what he had failed to do. He cut her free from the ropes on her wrists and ankles. He was the one who took off his shirt, not even thinking about everyone else seeing his scarred body, to wrap her up. He was the one who carried her out of that place, and the two and a half miles to the cars. He was the one who held her until they got somewhere that would work for a few days. His was the chest she curled up against and whispered words to that he felt he would never earn the right to hear.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself. Looks like you got cleaned up a bit."

He shook his head, "Glenn did it. I didn't leave."

She smiled, "I know. You told me you would stay." She tapped her fingers on the mattress, "Come over here."

Daryl didn't need to be asked twice. He dropped to his knees beside the bed. His rough hands reached out and fisted themselves around her shirt. He rubbed the material between his fingers and laid his head down facing away from her. "I… I shoulda never opened that goddamn door." Beth could feel him trembling beside her. "Shouldn't made you run, you's already hurt." She ran her fingers over his wrapped knuckles. "Followed that damn car till I couldn't." He was breathing hard and fast. "Got out of that place with everyone, I kept looking I swear."

"Daryl, I know." Beth let her fingertips ghost over his greasy hair. "I'm here now."

His whole body shook as he drew in a deep breath, "I hardly slept, I swear, I kept looking." Beth kept stroking his hair, not caring how matted and dirty it was, until his breathing evened out and his hands stilled. Despite the fact he was kneeling on a hard, dirty floor, it was the best sleep Daryl had gotten in nearly a month.

He woke with a groan. His sore body protesting the thought of moving. Waking up like that made him feel every one of his thirty six years. His back screamed as he straightened out and he realized he never put a shirt on. Beth was still holding his hand and though her eyes were closed she asked him to bring her some water when he pulled away. "Alright." Daryl walked over to the doorway and was met by Rick. "She needs water." He handed him two bottles and shirt and Daryl immediately returned to the bedside.

Beth reached out and took one bottle from him. Her eyes stayed on Daryl as he pulled the shirt over his shoulders. "You only slept for about an hour. Come lay here."

He shook his head.

"Daryl, I need you to come lay here." She sat up on her elbows. "You're going to come here, then you're going to eat." As if on cue Maggie brought two cans of soup in.

"No one has seen you eat a full meal since we met back up, Daryl."

"Mmhmm, I'm fine." Daryl took the soup and downed half of it in one gulp. He turned to watch Beth. "I gotta take a piss, you okay?"

"I'm fine, see if someone's got a brush too?"

He nodded and ducked out of the room.

Carl was sitting on the porch of the house they had holed up in. He saw Michonne and the new people that Glenn had picked up along the way standing around a small fire cooking up whatever the snares had caught for them. He went just past the tree line to relieve himself and headed back inside. "I saw all your scars." Daryl stopped in his tracks at Carl's voice. It was the first thing he had said to him since they got out. "My dad said it's all from Before. What happened?"

Daryl grunted and brought his thumbnail to his mouth. Everything that had happened to them had left him raw and exposed. All the walls he had spent so much time reinforcing had collapsed just like the chain link at the prison. "Everybody don't got a dad like yours." He took a few steps and then stopped in the doorway. "What your dad stopped from happening to you? What I couldn't stop from happenin' to Beth?" His voice dropped low, "Ain't never had nobody to stop things from happenin' to me, or tryin' to make it any better."

Daryl walked straight into the bedroom, he ignored Maggie who he knew had heard him talking to Carl and he ignored Rick calling him. He crawled onto the bed where Beth had fallen back to sleep, his head tucked close under her chin and his fingers found their way back to the loose fabric of her shirt. Daryl squeezed his eyes shut and mumbled the names of all the birds he could think of until he fell asleep.


	4. Author's Note

I know, I know… it's just an AN… boo hiss. Get it out now.

Okay, ready?

I just wanted to let everyone who follows this know I'm gong to be taking it down in the next couple days and reworking it. I'm about halfway through the first chapter and will hopefully put that up right after I take this down, it will have the same title. I'm just trying to fit in some more pieces to round these guys out. They're falling kind of flat to me and that's why I've had a hard time finding inspiration. More soon. Thanks for reading!

Silver Spoon


End file.
